Getting Started; Don't Take No for An Answer, at Least Not Too Readily

IF the prospect of ordering D.S.L. is enticing but intimidating, take heart. When it comes to getting D.S.L., a little legwork and a lot of perseverance are likely to pay off. The first thing to do is determine whether you are close enough to your local phone company central office.

If you are told that you cannot get service, do not take no for an answer. The customer service representative is likely to be still in training and could be wrong. Persist, even if it means asking to speak with a supervisor.

Even if the definitive answer from the phone company is no, you have an option: Call a competitor, like Covad, Rhythms or Flashcom, or go to their Web sites. You might get lucky because on occasion, competitors have installed D.S.L. equipment in central offices that the phone company itself has not yet upgraded. That is an oddity of D.S.L., that competitors can set up their hardware in phone company locations. You should also call local Internet service providers, because many of them are now in partnership with phone companies to offer D.S.L.

If you are truly out of luck, then you will have to wait until D.S.L. service areas expand or new technologies overcome the distance problem.

Here are some Web sites about D.S.L.:

2WIRE: www.2wire.com

DSLDIGEST.COM: www.dsldigest.com

DSLREPORTS.COM: dslreports.com/r3/dsl

ADSL FORUM: www.adsl.com

WHATIS: whatis.com/dsl.htm

If you can get service, call around for prices. ''Get as many different quotes as you can,'' advised Laurie Falconer, an analyst with Telechoice, a consulting firm in Boston. Prices from phone company competitors will probably drop in the months to come because of a recent federal ruling that phone companies must allow competitors to share their phone lines. KATIE HAFNER